


I Can't

by robron_til_the_end



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Car Accidents, Drowning, Hospitals, M/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 04:49:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8314501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robron_til_the_end/pseuds/robron_til_the_end
Summary: A one shot about Robert waking up at the hospital, set after last nights episode (17th October).





	

**Author's Note:**

> Still think Robert will be the injured one! How good was last night!!

Robert awoke slowly, hazily, painfully. His entire body ached and he hadn’t even opened his eyes yet. Focusing carefully, he could hear the regular beeping, feel the harsh almost sterile cloth blankets against his body. Huh. Hospital then. He cracked open his eyes, staring at the ceiling.

“Rob! Thank God!” He knew the voice, but it took a while for his foggy brain to place it. Vic. Slowly he turned his head, looking at his sister, her wide fearful eyes. “Oh, I’m so happy you’re awake,” she said.

Robert licked his lips, trying to speak, to form a word. It took a while but he managed it. “Aaron?”

“He’s fine,” Vic said. Robert looked around the room as if searching for him. “I sent him home,” she added. “He’s been sat here for three days, waiting for you to wake up. I told him to get a shower and something to eat. Though it did take a lot of persuading. He'll be here soon.” 

“He’s okay?” Robert asked. “You promise?”

“Bump on the head,” Vic said, shrugging her shoulders. “Never know, might have knocked some sense into him.” Robert forced a smile. He couldn’t relax until he’d seen Aaron for himself. Memories sharp as photographs were beginning to swamp his mind. The car going over the edge, the free falling. The sudden feeling of the lack of resistance under the car, Robert dropping the engagement ring for the total fear as the car hit the water. It didn’t drop straight away, an air pocket letting them still breathe. He could remember the shouting between him and Aaron, pure panic. Aaron got the drivers side door open with no problem, the water creating a hard struggle until he could push it open.

“Aaron, I can’t get my seat belt off!” Robert shouted. The stupid thing had jammed as the water level started rising, waist level now, rising fast. Aaron pulled at it too, but it wasn’t budging. "Have you got a penknife?" Robert asked desperately. Aaron shook his head, still pulling at it. The cold water was completely numbing, and both of their fingers slipped on the buckle, the water now chest high. It was rising far too fast. “Aaron, get out,” Robert said. “No need for both of us to…” he didn’t finish his sentence.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“Lachlan’s in the boot.” From the look on Aaron’s face, he’d completely forgotten that small fact. “Get him out.” Robert knew the guilt Aaron would feel if Lachlan drowned, blaming himself, though Lachlan needed to be locked up in his opinion. “Go on, I’ll get the belt off.” Aaron looked at the rising water, knowing they didn’t have the time and nodded, swimming out of sight. Robert didn’t remember much after that. The intense fear, the suffocating feeling of being unable to breathe, Struggling to keep his mouth above the water line, the knowledge that this would be how it ends.

“Who got me out of the car?” Robert asked Vic.

“Aaron did,” she said. “If it wasn’t for him…” Vic swallowed away the tears, very clearly. “He did break your right ankle when he dragged you out of the car though. You won’t be able to walk on it for a while.” It must be the painkillers, but Robert couldn’t even feel it.

“Lachlan?”

“Skulking and hiding away at Home Farm,” Vic grumbled. “Got away without a scratch.”

“Vic, I need to see him,” Robert said, his voice making it clear Aaron was who he meant.

“Did you ask him?”

“More like shouted it at him,” Robert said, shaking his head. That made his vision swim, so he stopped. “Then we hit the water and…”

“It’s okay,” Vic said, trying to soothe him, seeing him getting agitated. “I’ll go and find him.”

“Thanks.” Robert closed his eyes, so tired and exhausted. Vic looked at him sadly before going out into the corridor, looking at a sleeping Robert through the window.

“I am not making excuses for you any more,” Vic said, though her voice had lost the heat of the argument they’d been under for most of the last twenty four hours. Aaron was bent over in the chair, looking completely broken and defeated. “You need to see him.”

“I can’t,” Aaron said, voice broken. 

“Why don’t you want to? He’s been unconscious for three days!” Vic hissed at him. “He wanted to marry you, why are you being so unbelievably selfish!”

“Because I can’t say yes,” Aaron said quietly. Vic just gaped at him. “It’s not him, I love him. And I couldn’t bear to lose him, but I’m not ready for marriage. I’m just not. And if I go in that room, he’ll ask me, and I don’t want to hurt him. Especially not when he’s just come around.” Aaron wiped his face angrily, tears escaping.

“Well, do something,” Vic said impatiently. “Sitting out here ticking down time isn’t helping anyone. If you’re not going to see him, just go home.” Aaron shook his head. He couldn’t go home. “He wants to see you, Aaron. He nearly died.” Vic got up and left, presumably in search of food. It had been a long few days. Aaron took a deep breath and told himself to stop being a coward. He got up and went into Robert’s hospital room.

Robert opened his eyes instantly, a small smile appearing over his face. “Oh, you’re here,” he said quietly. “I thought Vic was lying, or didn’t want to shock me.”

“No, I’m fine,” Aaron said, sitting next to him and gripping his hand tightly. “I’m… glad you’re awake.”

“Vic said you got me out,” Robert said quietly.

“What was I meant to do, leave you there?” Aaron tried to joke. From the look on Robert’s face, it didn’t go over well. Aaron bent over the bed and kissed him softly, enjoying the taste of him. For a while, he thought Robert wasn’t going to make it, and seeing him here and alive was such a relief.

“About what I said in the car…” Robert started.

“We don’t have to talk about that,” Aaron said, shaking his head.

“We do,” Robert said. “I meant it, Aaron. I want to marry you, I want my future to be with you, I can’t imagine my life with anyone else.”

“Robert…” Aaron started, feeling uncomfortable.

“Did you get the ring, or did it go down with the car?”

“I do have it,” Aaron admitted slowly. “But…”

“You’re not saying yes,” Robert said, cottoning on to the sad, uncomfortable look on Aaron‘s face. “Are you?”

“No, I’m not,” Aaron said. Robert turned away. “It’s nothing to do with you, Robert,” Aaron continued, hating the pain on his boyfriends face. “I know that I’m not ready for marriage. I love you, and… I would love to marry you one day, but not now. I’m sorry, I don’t want to hurt you, it‘s the last thing I want. But I don’t want to say yes now.”

“Aaron…” Robert started, turning towards him, feeling the honesty in his voice.

“If I did say yes, it would be to make you happy, no other reason,” Aaron said. “I’m so sorry, I know that I’m not ready for that. Not yet. But I don’t want to lose you, I wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

“No?” Robert asked, lips twitching slightly in a smile.

“I can’t lose you,” Aaron repeated. “And I do want to be with you Robert, I’m not saying I want to leave you, God, I don’t want you to think...”

“Hey,” Robert said, trying to stop his rambling. “It’s okay. I get it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Robert said. Then he began speaking slowly, measuredly. “I did mean it though. I want you for the rest of my life. So… when you decide you _are_ ready, you’ll have to let me know.”

Aaron smiled at him, a slow genuine smile that had Robert smiling too. “I’ll do that,” Aaron promised. Robert smiled, then started shifting on the bed, grimacing with the pain. “What’re you doing?!”

“Lie next to me,” Robert said. “I’m tired, and I want to hold you. Please.” Aaron rolled his eyes, but didn’t argue, curling up next to him on the bed. Which was a very tight fit, especially being careful of Robert’s injured ankle. “I love you,” Robert said. Aaron kissed his neck gently. It had been far too long and he’d been sick with worry for too many days, so he cried into Robert’s skin. Robert stroked his back gently, reassuring him. It’d be okay. Whatever happened, they had each other.


End file.
